Vista - 0x80070057 upon Complete PC Restore

I'm receiving error 0x80070057 - "The parameter is incorrect" when trying to
restore a complete PC image. No backups other than a single complete image
were created on the machine. I'm restoring from a USB hard drive. It
detects the image and the error is given only when the process is started
(immediately after confirming "that i want to format the disks and restore
the backup".

Note that I made the backup while using a RAID 0 on the mobo's Intel ICH9R
RAID controller and I am restoring to the same setup. I have deleted and
recreated the array since the backup. The drivers for the ICH9R are loaded
before trying the restore and I can access the unformatted array through
diskpart at the command prompt.

I have not previously attempted a backup and restore on this rig or using
this external, so I can't rule much out.

OS: Vista x64 Business
MSI P35 Platinum
Intel Core2 Quad 6600 @ 3.0ghz (333*9)
Gigabyte Radeon HD2600XT
8GB (4 x 2GB) G.Skill PC6400 4-4-4-12 @ 800mhz
2 x Hitachi 500GB HDD in RAID 1
Rosewill 950W

Granted you posted a while ago, but just today I ran into the same
issue. I had a complete PC restore image saved to an external hard
drive, running a rather basic hardware setup, and got the same error
"The parameter is incorrect", along with "element not found".

After a dozen or so attempts, and trying other people's suggestions, I
decided to try a clean install. That wouldn't work either, said
something along the lines of having bad system volume information.

I flipped off the power switch on my external HDD and rebooted to the
install DVD and everything went smoothly. Granted, without that drive
turned on I was unable to access my restore image, but the clean install
worked fine.

This would lead me to believe the problem is with the Vista setup
program getting jammed up and being completely useless while a USB
external drive is connected. That is exactly why I just downloaded
Norton Ghost and am giving Microsoft utilities the backseat, yet again.

Specs:
OS - Vista Ultimate x64
Machine - HP Pavilion dv9000z CTO
CPU - AMD Turion 64 x2 Mobile TL-68 2.4 GHZ
RAM - 4GHz (2GHz x2 Crucial)
Graphics Card - NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
Internal HDD - WD Scorpio 250Gb 5400RPM SATA
External - MAXTOR 500Gb 7200RPM UATA in USB enclosure


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BreakinHeartsnHymens
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